senate armed services committee

Activists from GetEQUAL and the Arizona group H.E.R.O. disrupted a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday morning to demand that U.S. Senator John McCain end his threat to filibuster an attempt to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

Gay service members are one step closer to equality this morning after an historical vote approving the repeal of DADT by the full House and the Senate Armed Services Committee late last night. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the lone Republican on the Committee to vote for repeal.  Sen. Jim Webb from Virginia was the lone Democrat to vote against the measure.

Three key senators issued a statement Tuesday urging Senate leadership to pass “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal as part of the National Defense Authorization Act before the end of the year. Senators Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Mark Udall of Colorado, both of whom sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who has been a dogged supporter of repeal, called on the Senate to “act immediately” on the legislation so that repeal could be undertaken in an “orderly” fashion.

A Senate Armed Services Committee hearing has been scheduled to discuss the "don't ask, don't tell" policy as well as the defense budget for 2011. President Obama promised in his State of the Union Address to repeal the military's discriminatory policy against gays and lesbians serving in the military.

The president signed certification for repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" today and sent it to Congress. Now another waiting period begins. A 60-day waiting period follows before the policy is finally dropped, meaning that DADT would no longer be enforced on Sept. 20. A recent order from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals already bars the military from further discharges and investigations under the policy. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, cheered the certification and looked ahead to next steps.

Representatives for Democratic majority leader Harry Reid and top White House officials committed to bringing “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal to a vote as part of the National Defense Authorization Act before the end of the year at a meeting Wednesday evening with stakeholder groups. "I will work hard to overcome the filibuster so that 'don’t ask, don’t tell' is repealed and the NDAA --- which is critical to our national security and the well-being of our troops --- is adopted," says Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The nation's top two Defense officials called for an end to "don't ask, don't tell," Tuesday, a big step toward allowing openly gay and lesbian members to finally serve in the U.S. military. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in his testimony, "I cannot escape being troubled by the fact that we have in place a policy which forces young men and women to lie..." 

A ban prohibiting gay service members will not be part of the House Armed Services Committee proposed $700 billion 2011 defense bill.

If you work with the media in any capacity, GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has a message to share with you. Please tell the stories of our LGBT heroes.  Especially right now.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is set to schedule a vote on the Defense authorization bill that includes "don't ask, don't tell" repeal next week. Republicans are expected to filibuster the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act, which provides funding for the Defense Department, and 60 votes would be needed to end debate on the bill and bring it to the Senate floor for a vote. GOP Senator John McCain of Arizona renewed his filibuster threat last week.

Sen. John McCain said over the weekend that he would filibuster any attempt to repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the lame-duck session after the November midterm election.

A member of the New Hampshire National Guard will be allowed to attend an upcoming Yellow Ribbon event with her same-sex partner, Defense Department officials said Wednesday. Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Morgan, who returned recently from a deployment in Kuwait and made headlines when she came out in the national media following repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” said earlier this week that she was not authorized to bring her partner of 11 years to a required-attendance Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program event.

Gen. Colin Powell issued a statement Wednesday supporting the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," changing his long-standing stance on the policy. The 17-year old policy encouraging the quieting of gays and lesbians in the military is up for a long overdue review. Powell announced that he will join Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates in the effort to repeal DADT.

With the global-wide kerfuffle about an Islamophobic minister, Rev. Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, threatening to burn the Koran on the ninth anniversary of 9/11, little attention last week was given to a federal district court judge’s ruling that the military’s "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) ban on gays and lesbians serving openly is unconstitutional.

Soon after Obama’s inauguration in 2009, the LGBTQ community waited anxiously to hear that steps were being made to repeal DADT. But on June 8 of that year when the Supreme Court refused to review the Pentagon policy that prohibits LGBTQ servicemembers to serve openly in the military, Obama’s people added salt to the wounds of our LGBTQ servicemembers by stating in court papers that the ruling on DADT was correct because of the military’s legitimate concern of LGBTQ servicemembers endangering “unit cohesion”— a concept totally debunked by a 2002 study.

This weekend we celebrate July 4, with rounds of festivities marking our nation’s 234 years of independence.But this country’s need to showcase her indomitable spirit of heroism continues to come at the expense of basic freedoms and protections denied to us lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Americans.

The White House Office of the Press Secretary issued the following statement from President Barack Obama regarding the failed vote on the defense authorization bill that included "don't ask, don't tell" repeal and will continue to force lesbian and gay soldiers to serve in the closet. 'I want to thank Majority Leader Reid, Armed Services Committee Chairman Levin, and Senators Lieberman and Collins for all the work they have done on this bill. While today’s vote was disappointing, it must not be the end of our efforts. I urge the Senate to revisit these important issues during the lame duck session.'

New data from the Palm Center shows that the military continued to discharge openly gay mission-critical troops under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in 2009, while a disproportionately high number of women and minorities were discharged under the policy.

Rachel Maddow skewered Congressman Ike Skelton of Missouri for his preference to retain the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military in order to help parents avoid discussions about homosexuality. Skelton, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, told reporters Tuesday that the move to end "don't ask, don't tell" puts parents in the awkward position of talking with their children about gay issues.